Novel & Cerita Then We Held Hands

“I’m scared,” I mumbled, standing in front of my mate as we stayed under the tree in the darkness. “You don’t need to be scared, mate; you are mine,” he hissed, grabbing onto my waist. I swallowed hard, my heart beating loudly. I stared into the eyes of my mate; he was angry at our situation.  “But I am his bride.” Valeria is the firstborn daughter of Down South Pack, married off to Alpha Adrain of Midnight Pack. Valeria has never received love in her life, her little sister has always been favoured above her. Married to one of the biggest alphas, Valeria knew her hopes of ever finding her mate were over. Until Alpha Damien came bursting into her life. Claiming another Alpha’s mate was prohibited, especially an Alpha of title stuck in between two Alpha males and enemies, Valeria was confused.  Would her mate go through all the odds of having her? Or would their enemy conquer them?

Kristine Davis nervously spreads her legs for a routine exam, only to realize the doctor is the ex she abandoned five years ago! She never expected her life to fall apart on a gynecology table, coming face to face with George, now a world-renowned gynecologist. What she doesn't know is that their breakup was built on a devastating misunderstanding, and that he never stopped loving her. Forced back into each other's lives, her most intimate care is now in the hands of this "very personal doctor". When Kristine blushes and mutters, "My private matters are none of your business!" George pulls her tightly in his arms, his voice low and dangerous: "Every inch of you has always been mine and this time, I won't let you disappear until you tell me the real reason you left.

“Look at yourself, Willow… How can someone like you possibly stand beside me as my Luna?” His eyes swept over my body. “Be honest with yourself… You look like an overfed cow.” ⸻ I've spent my entire life being told I take up too much space. Too fat. Too greedy. Too embarrassing. So when the Moon Goddess finally blessed me with a mate—a mate who also happened to be my best friend... The only person I believed saw me for more than my size... I thought my suffering had finally come to an end. I was wrong. Because that same night, he rejected me before the entire pack, called me an overfed cow, chose my beautiful younger sister as his Luna... then offered me the greatest humiliation of all. He wanted me to become their surrogate. According to him, my body was already ruined anyway. I lost everything that night. Until the last person I ever expected stepped into my life. River Hale. The Alpha's illegitimate son. My childhood bully. The man I hated more than anyone. His proposal was even crazier than my rejection. "Fake date me." Apparently, making the future Alpha believe his rejected mate is screwing his own bastard brother is the perfect revenge. Now I'm living under the same roof as the man I swore I'd never trust while pretending to be hopelessly in love with him. The only problem? The more we fake it... The less fake it begins to feel.

At another Sunday dinner at the Bellandi estate, Luca Bellandi's assistant, Ava Marino, was sitting in my seat. It was the first chair to Luca's right at the long walnut table, the seat everyone in Chicago's underworld knew belonged to Mrs. Bellandi. Ava sat there as if she had been born into it, her pale wrist brushing Luca's sleeve while she poured his wine. I stood in the doorway and looked at him. "She's in my seat. You don't have anything to say?" Luca raised his eyes. "You were late. Don't blame someone else for sitting down first. There are empty chairs over there. Sit if you want. If not, get out." The dining room went dead quiet, and before I could answer, his thoughts slipped into my ears. [Vivi, don't go. Come sit beside me. Tell them it's your seat. Tell me you still want to be my wife.] [Please get mad. Please care. Say you need me, and I'll give you the whole world.] In the past, those soft, trembling thoughts would have been enough. I would've swallowed the insult and stayed beside him like a loyal dog that didn't know when to leave. This time, I didn't. I slipped the wedding ring off my finger and laid it on the table. "If the Bellandi family can't even keep a wife's seat for me, then I guess this family doesn't need a wife anymore. Luca, let's get divorced."

****MATURE CONTENT ****This is not a gentle collection of love stories. Within these pages, desire turns savage, boundaries are shattered, and pleasure walks hand-in-hand with darkness. Twenty raw, unrelenting gay tales plunge deep into forbidden territory—where lust overrides consent, obsession devours innocence, and every steamy encounter leaves marks that linger long after the final page. From ruthless power plays and taboo cravings to dangerous liaisons dripping with sweat, dominance, and raw, aching need, these stories do not ask permission. They take. Reader discretion is strongly advised. This anthology contains explicit sexual content, dark themes, dubious consent, rough encounters, and intense psychological edge-play. If you crave tenderness and soft romance, turn back now. If you’re ready to surrender to the shadows… Welcome to the heat.

My executive boyfriend, Marcus Winters, had always wanted the regional president seat. Then his favorite protégée, Sophie Moresby, complained that I always got the spotlight, and he deliberately sabotaged my car. The crash broke both my hands, leaving me unable to compete in the design contest that could decide the board vote. He handed my entry slot to Sophie and expected me to accept it quietly. When I confronted him, he said it was only one competition and that, as design director, I should give younger employees a chance. To prove his "fairness," he stripped me of my director title and docked six months of my pay to compensate the team. Everyone waited for me to fight back. Instead, I nodded, calm and silent. Marcus was pleased. He promised that once his promotion came through, he would restore my position and publicly announce our relationship. I smiled coldly and told him we were done. I had already submitted my resignation. What Marcus did not know was that the board and I had made a private agreement: if I won the championship and secured the decisive vote, the person I named would become regional president. I had been preparing to name him. Now he had not only replaced me with Sophie, but also encouraged her to submit a fraudulent design. Once the contest ended, the only thing waiting for him was termination, a ruined career, and a bill he could never afford.

Grayson Wyatt is the live-in son-in-law of one of the richest families in the country. He is despised by everyone around him because he is poor and picked on by his in-laws for the same reason. Things take a turn for the worse when his sister is rushed to the hospital after overdosing. He soon discovers his wife has been cheating on him and gets sent to jail after being framed for domestic violence. Just when it looks like things would keep getting worse, he is bailed out of jail and discovers that he's the heir to a billion dollar inheritance. But then the will comes with an extra clause. He would have to get married to a girl he has never met before.

Grace Anderson is a striking young lady with a no-nonsense and inimical attitude. She barely smiles or laughs, the feeling of pure happiness has been rare to her. She has acquired so many scars and life has thought her a very valuable lesson about trust. Dean Ryan is a good looking young man with a sanguine personality. He always has a smile on his face and never fails to spread his cheerful spirit. On Grace's first day of college, the two meet in an unusual way when Dean almost runs her over with his car in front of an ice cream stand. Although the two are opposites, a friendship forms between them and as time passes by and they begin to learn a lot about each other, Grace finds herself indeed trusting him. Dean was in love with her. He loved everything about her. Every. Single. Flaw. He loved the way she always bit her lip. He loved the way his name rolled out of her mouth. He loved the way her hand fit in his like they were made for each other. He loved how much she loved ice cream. He loved how passionate she was about poetry. One could say he was obsessed. But love has to have a little bit of obsession to it, right? It wasn't all smiles and roses with both of them but the love they had for one another was reason enough to see past anything. But as every love story has a beginning, so it does an ending.

WARNING Please read BOOK 1 first . Book 2 is the continuation ". Don't get me wrong, okay? I am just making sure if it's really mine. I am a very busy and famous businessman. Now, if you are not so sure that that baby inside you is not mine then it will bring chaos and a big problem to my image and to my family. Get it?" D-do you really think I-I am that kind of a woman? Do y-you think that I w-would let you take my v-virginity when I h-have a boyfriend? She said in a painful tone. But he was just staring at her with his emotionless eyes. " Okay. But I want some test miss. I want to make sure that it's really mine. I want a paternity test" B-but I don't have m-money for paternity test.. "She mumbled and he heard it. He laugh sarcastically. He knew it! He then look at her with his fierce and sarcastic eyes. Yup. She is definitely like them. " You don't have money? You want me to give you some? "" I knew why you're here. And I was right. If I give you money, will you leave me alone now? Because I know that's what you need and why you're here. So tell me, how much do you need? "She looked at him in disbelief. " D-do you think I'm here for y-your money? Do think I'm a gold-digger? ""I don't know... Maybe. "she Shook her head in disbelief. " I can't believe you. "She mumbled with her teary eyes as she look at him, he just stare at her with emotionless look.She came all the way here just to hear his judgement , insulting words? Her tears fall down and she quickly wipe it. She looked at him with anger and pain in her eyes.

The mystery of love is greater than the mystery of death.~Oscar Wilde~Adoration is not profound enough a word to express the depth of my love for her. From the moment she walked into my life and set my heart and soul on fire, not a day's gone by that she hasn't plagued my every thought.We were each other's completion. She was everything I wasn't--the sigh to my roar, the virtue to my sin, the cure to my wounds.We Were One.Until the unthinkable happened.That I've survived such a tragedy without having completely lost it, is a mystery in itself. But as my mind starts to blur the lines between reality and my delusional heart, I begin to question everything, including my sanity.And then the real mystery begins . . .Author's note: We Were One is an alternate POV to Girl In The Mirror but both books can be read as stand alones without the need to read the other to follow along!We Were One is created by Elizabeth Reyes, an eGlobal Creative Publishing signed author.